United States v. Blake, No. 16-1459 (8th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of robbing two banks and attempting to rob a third. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the conviction, holding that one of the robberies was a qualifying violent felony where one of the robbers involved used a firearm, and defendant failed to meet his burden by clear and convincing evidence under 18 U.S.C. 3559(c)(3)(A) to show that the robbery was a nonqualifying felony. The court rejected defendant's Sixth Amendment argument that a right to trial by jury means that the question whether he satisfied the affirmative defense must be decided by a jury rather than a judge. The court explained that section 3559(c)(3)(A) is an affirmative defense that cannot increase the defendant's penalty.
Court Description: Colloton, Author, with Beam and Gruender, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. There was ample evidence showing one of the robbers in the bank robbery used a firearm, and the district court did not err in concluding that the robbery qualified as a serious violent felony for the purposes of sentencing under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3559(c)(1); further, the district court did not err in finding that defendant had failed to present clear and convincing evidence to the contrary; whether the defendant has shown the conviction was non-qualifying under Sec. 3559(c)(1) is a matter for the court and not the jury, as Sec. 3559(c)(3)(A) is an affirmative defense that cannot increase the defendant's penalty.
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